Rock Archeologia

Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart – Test Patterns (1967) 

Artist: Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
Album: Test Patterns
Label: A&M Records
Catalog#: SP-4126
Format: Vinyl, LP, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1967
Genre: Rock, Pop Rock
Duration: 00:28:48

• Test Patterns is a calculating quickie, basically an innocuous setting in which to place the Monkees-rejected gem "Out and About." Tommy made no bones about coveting the Colgems Kids' fame: "I watched the Monkees from backstage and saw all those little girls go crazy while they played our songs, so I said to Bobby, 'forget being the opening act, here's the deal: all we have to do is write a couple of smashes and within a year we can dash out on stage with a band behind us and have all those kids go crazy for us!'" Bobby's "Out and About" is one of those magical celebrations of the California myth that, for a variety of reasons, no one ever writes anymore. In their place we have gangsta rap, which for all its charms is unlikely to induce in anyone the giddy joy of:
            "Things I want I can't afford 'em
              Nothing in this house but boredom
              I've gotta run outside and see what's happening!
              Out and about, where the sun is always shining
              Look at all the fun I'm having
              Bumping into friends and laughing
              What a groovy time we're having."
• Okay, so that last line is a little lazy, but with its punchy production and ecstatic arrangement, "Out and About" is a great radio song. The rest of the album has the patented let's-mess-around-and-see-what-we-come-up-with feel, typical of artists sent into the studio with the instructions "Give us a hit; you've got three days." "My Little Chickadee" gives us a taste of T&B's vaudeville roots just how old were these guys, anyway but wouldn't make the New Vaudeville Band nervous. "Girl I'm Out to Get You" is a more successful melange, a hepped-up klezmer track with machine-gun lyrics describing a not-so-casual pick-up in the park: "Come back with me to my flat, it's late and I must feed my cat/On my Chinese mat we sat, commenced to chat of this and that, and then I tried to kiss her tenderlee-ee-ee." In what will prove a recurrent lyrical theme for B&H, there is no resolution of the attempted mating, although we do get to hear the would-be lovers play a duet for piano and violin. The fundamental schizophrenia of Boyce & Hart's recording career is revealed in the closing track, the 4:50 Webbian composition "Life," including the indistinct movements Sunday Night In Phoenix, Life In Hollywood, Sunrise Through The Meadow, and What's It All About. The song is a deeply misguided stab at the blues, which I need only briefly quote in order to convey its horror: "Life, life, life, what's it all about? No matter how hard I try, I just can't figure it out. Fortunately, and by whatever means, all would become clear in time for the next album. (SCRAM Excerpt)

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 • Side One:
A1. Out & About 02:23
A2. I Should Be Going Home 02:56
A3. In The Night 02:40
A4. My Little Chickadee 02:38
A5. For Baby 03:48
 • Side Two:
B1. Sometimes She's A Little Girl 02:42
B2. Abe's Tune 02:26
B3. Shadows 02:32
B4. Girl, I'm Out To Get You 02:23
B5. Life 04:50

    Published by Screen Gems-Columbia
    Producer by Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart
    Design: Peter Whorf Graphics
    Engineer: Hank Cicallo

Credits:
Arranged By (Strings & Horns) – Don McGinnis
Bass – Larry Taylor
Drums – Billy Lewis
Guitar – Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton, Wayne Irwin
Sounds (Bird Calls) – Frank Leper
Sounds (Riveting) – George Swile
Written By Boyce-Hart

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